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> Can anyone enlighten me as to the difference between a > shrine and a chapel? Could the term'capella' refer to > either in medieval times? This is just off the top of my head, but a shrine is generally a container for a relic, rather than an architectural space in which to enclose a shrine, which comes closer to being a chapel. Shrines, nevertheless, could be more substantial than a mere reliquary: that of St Peter comes to mind, enclosed in quite a substantial ciborium. The "original" chapel, I believe, was at Aachen, being the room intended to contain the cape of St Martin, from which the word "capella" derived. And while, initially, they may have been exclusively, or primarily, tied to the relic cult, chapels in the later Middle Ages proliferated for all sorts of other reasons, such as the need to keep up with sometimes daunting numbers of anniversary masses. Eventually, they became even more "private" as they were coopted by individuals and/or families, once again for anniversary masses or obits, combined with actual burial. I hope this "informal" answer is helpful in at least stimulating more useful replies! Cheers, Jim Bugslag %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%